


Nobody Forgets Old Friends

by chipsaestrella



Series: Nobody Chooses Their Times [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, POV Female Character, POV Natasha Romanov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-26
Updated: 2012-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-15 02:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/522074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chipsaestrella/pseuds/chipsaestrella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha meets an old friend in Berlin in January 2004.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nobody Forgets Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> That is the second part of 'Nobody Chooses Their Times' series and it probably doesn't have any sense without the first one (if it has any sense at all which is certainly disputable).
> 
> English is not my first language and I (unfortunately) don't have a beta who is a native speaker, so I apologise for any mistakes in advance and encourage the readers to point them out for me.  
> Constructive criticism is always welcomed!  
> Actually, I'm looking for an English-speaking beta who would eradicate my Russian-isms and correct my gramma. 
> 
> I only saw The Movie and I know nothing at all about comics canon except for what I've found in Wiki. No offence was meant to canon anyway. (And I don’t own anything about Marvel’s Avengers)
> 
> Huge thanks to my wonderful beta Kargona for her great help and encouragements.

***  
Natasha meets an old friend in Berlin in January 2004.

She wanders through the streets aimlessly (or so it seems) for a week, but she is a bit behind in her intelligence thanks to SHIELD and its warm-hearted but prolonged welcoming procedures, and Berlin is as good place to start repairing her web as any. Besides, she loves the city. She might become (would certainly be) a valuable asset to SHIELD, but she may as well take her own pleasure in it.

And all the while Natasha’s having a distinct gut feeling that some of her old comrades are nearby.

Since she is pretty sure that Motherland still considers Natasha heavily indebted, she’s been extremely cautious throughout that week.

So, she isn’t surprised at all when she is greeted, ‘ _Наташенька*_ ,’ on the Saturday night in a dimly lit bar in West Berlin.

***  
She turns from the bar counter slowly and says, as if startled, ‘Oh, hi, Sasha. Nice to meet you, my dear.’

‘You too,’ answers Sasha, her smile wide and a little manic, ‘you too.’

She looks a bit older than Natasha, 30 or maybe 33, and as far as Natasha knows Alexandra Ilyinichna Pechorskaya will be 70 next year or a year after that.

Sasha asks barman for a bottle of vodka and two glasses, and smiles again, and they find a small table with a sticky tabletop, and they clink glasses and drink the first one for their meeting (‘What a lucky chance!’ Sasha says, and Natasha nods as if she believes her, and Sasha grins as if she believes Natasha believes her).

‘I got out into the wild the same year you did,’ Sasha says as if Natasha doesn’t know that already, ‘only eight months later, after... After all that. How did you know at the time?’

‘I didn’t,’ Natasha answers.

She enjoys telling the truth when no one is going to believe her anyway.

***  
‘Some people say that now is a good time to come back home,’ Sasha says. That is actually news for Natasha, and she thinks Sasha can see through her careful lack of reaction.

‘Not applicable to me, I’m sure,’ she answers carelessly without a pause.

‘No, not to you,’ Sasha agrees lightly. ‘Anyway they say you are domesticated already, - those who do not say that you are dead, of course.’

Natasha shrugs. ‘Both rumors are highly exaggerated, I’m afraid.’

Sasha laughs.

They clink glasses and drink the second one for not being dead.

***  
‘You are not a freelancer anymore,’ Sasha says, which is not a question, but all the same Natasha answers, ‘No, I am not,’ and they leave it at that.

***  
‘Are you going to come back home?’ Natasha asks, suddenly uncertain.

‘Are you nuts?’ counters Sasha.

Natasha shrugs again.

‘Our Mother is a tough old bitch...’ Sasha says.

‘And we know a fair bit about tough old bitches,’ Natasha finishes.

They laugh together and they don’t clink glasses and they drink the third one for those who are long dead already.

***  
In the end two bottles are empty under the table and they are not even a bit tipsy, which is half serum and half training (and both halves are part of their debt to their Mother, which figures, of course it figures, Natasha’s just sure that she’d paid and re-paid this debt a hundred times over while making some other kinds of debts not so easily paid). But their tongues are a bit looser now that they showed and registered enough of each other’s tells to re-establish some vague sort of old camaraderie.

‘How is it to have a family?’ Natasha asks, feeling a bit bold and a bit silly at the same time.

‘Infinitely scary,’ Sasha answers. ‘But that’s a best fucking thing that happened in my life. You should try sometime.’

‘Yeah,’ Natasha agrees. ‘Sometime.’

She doesn’t believe that she’d be able to, but it is nice to know that this door isn’t closed for the likes of her.

Natasha despises closed doors.

***  
‘So, I just thought I should warn you,’ Sasha says, ‘for the sake of the old times and all that. You’d be the first they’d come after, I guess.’

‘I appreciate that,’ Natasha answers. She doesn’t say, ‘I owe you one,’ since they both know that, but she says, ‘You, too, be careful.’ 

Sasha snorts.

She says, ‘‘ _Jeder stirbt für sich allein**_ , don’t you remember, _Натуля_ *?’’

Natasha remembers that all too well.

**Author's Note:**

> *Наташенька, Натуля - Natashenka, Natulya, affectionate diminutives for Natalia  
> ** Jeder stirbt für sich allein- Every Man Dies Alone (which is a title of a novel by Hans Fallada)


End file.
